Hiding
by BostonSox-Fan
Summary: The final battle has come and gone, and nothing has gone as planned. Can Ron and Hermione survive the failure that was the final battle?
1. Things Have Changed

A/N: Only J.K. Rowling owns these characters. Not me. I only pretend. .

**Hiding**

_By BostonSox-Fan_

Chapter One: Things Have Changed

Hermione awoke with tears in her eyes, sobs racking her tiny body. She wasn't surprised when Ron plopped down onto her bed, slipped his arms around her, and pulled her into a comforting hug. It had become somewhat of a routine for the pair over the last month; Hermione would wake up in tears, and Ron (who hadn't been able to sleep since that horrible day) would get up to comfort her.

It wasn't even surprising that he was in her room night after night; it had just become the norm. No one dared to challenge his actions, not since that night. They were inseparable since that night.

After a few more minutes of her sobs, Hermione calmed down enough to chance a look up at Ron, whose face looked incredibly sad. His eyes seemed to have lost their normal playful twinkle, and had become a rather dim-looking blue. He did, however, have enough presence of mind to reach down and wipe some of Hermione's tears, whispering some, "it's alright"'s and some "we'll be fine"'s. But no matter how many times he whispered those words to Hermione, he never truly felt them.

He laid her back down into a comfortable position, tucked her in, and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. She allowed her eyes to close, and she drifted back into her dreams, which were now, thankfully, blank. Ron padded back to the chair in the corner of Hermione's room, sitting down and staring out the window at the cloudless night. The moon was full, which explained the distant-sounding whimpers which signaled Lupin had taken his potion and was now safely tucked away in the attic.

With the exception of a few cat-naps every now and again, Ron had been completely unable to sleep. Not with the dreams that had haunted him. Taking in a shaky breath, Ron pushed the horrid memories from his thoughts and instead focused in on the now-sleeping Hermione. She looked beautiful as she slept, despite the breakdown she had had only minutes earlier.

_At least she can sleep_, Ron thought somewhat bitterly. _She did everything in her power to stop it. She has the right to sleep. I, on the other hand…_

Ron's thoughts trailed off, his eyes dropping to his worn shoes. He wasn't going to think about it anymore. He had already decided that he could never forgive himself, but there was no reason to go on about it.

The door to Hermione's room opened with a creak, causing Ron to leap to his feet and lift his wand in one fluid motion. He had become rather deft at handling his wand and moving silently after he, Harry, and Hermione had left Hogwarts after their sixth year to search for horcruxes and hunt down Voldemort.

"Calm down, Ron," said a rather nervous sounding Ginny. "I just wanted to see if you two were alright. There's no need to get all crazy on me." Even as she spoke, Ron could tell that she had been crying for a considerable amount of time. Her eyes were puffy, her face still somewhat flushed, and her voice sounded congested. "Well… I'll just leave you alone, then." She backed from the doorway, and left Ron with his eyes narrowed and wand still pointed towards the door.

Ron lowered his wand a few moments after Ginny had left, the permanent frown that seemed to be ingrained on his lips only deepening. Ginny was someone else who wasn't the same after the night.

_Poor Ginny_, thought Ron. _She must be taking it harder than all of us. I wonder how she's able to still be so sarcastic after that night. Doesn't she realize things will never be the same?_

Dropping back down into his chair, he allowed his hands to knot in his flame-red hair, tears starting to well up in his eyes. Things would never be the same. It finally hit him, and hit him hard. His shoulders slumped, and his body began to shake with sobs that he could barely contain. No, things would never be the same. Not since the night Harry died facing Voldemort.


	2. Alone

A/N: Necesito revisiones hacer mas capitulos… Yea, ok, so my Spanish isn't amazing. But I still need reviews so I can do more chapters. I need feedback, guys. Constructive criticism. P.S. I still don't own any of these characters.

Chapter Two: Alone

Ron had waited for Hermione to wake, and then stood like a sentinel outside the door until she was ready to go down for breakfast. He ate in silence, as did she, listening to the Order members talk about new news on Voldemort's whereabouts. They had taken to talking openly about Order business around Ron and Hermione since Harry had died, feeling as if they owed them.

"With this new lead, we should be able to find him in no time," said Tonks, sending a cautious glance over towards the pair. "Then we can finish him off… for good."

Ron felt his anger rising and bubbling in his chest, but made no move to have an outburst, instead waiting for Hermione to finish her breakfast before they both headed to the living room. It had become routine for them to do this; Hermione would read one of the thousands of books that were in Grimmauld place for hours on end, and Ron would sit by her side and stare off into space. What he was thinking about, nobody could tell, nor dared to ask.

Hermione grabbed a book, not bothering to glance at the title, and just let her eyes fall over the words without ever really taking them in. Her thoughts were going back to her horrible dream. The dream that gave her a nasty feeling in her heart and gut, and left her crying in Ron's arms night after night.

_Flashes of lights, screams, and smoke were all she was able to see. She kept the sleeve of her free hand over her mouth and nose in an attempt to block out the thick curtain of smoke that hung in the air, only to have it sting her eyes. _

"_Harry? Harry, where are you?" she yelled, the sound only muffled by her hand. She had lost her friend when a particularly vicious Death Eater had sent a tombstone flying towards the trio, causing them to scatter. She heard Ron somewhere off in the distance, yelling for Harry, too. Neither of them seemed to be having any luck locating their raven-haired friend, however, so she started to walk towards Ron's voice. A flash of bright green light swept past her, missing her by a good three feet or so. She whipped around, wand raised, and sent a curse sailing towards the origin of the killing curse, and heard a muted 'oof' as a Death Eater fell._

_A familiar yell grabbed her attention, and sent her running in that direction. She made it towards the top of a hill, and as the smoke seemed to thin out, the sight that caught her eyes made her wish that it hadn't. Harry lay on the ground in full-out convulsions, Voldemort standing over him and laughing gleefully as red electricity curled off his wand and tortured her friend. She sent curse after curse towards the monster, only to have them bounce off in different directions as they connected with an invisible shield. She wracked her brain for a way to stop the fiend, only to be thrown back towards a tombstone, her vision blurring into darkness. _

A small tear tracked its way down her cheek, and she wiped it away hastily, returning her full attention to the book. Ron, however, was not so lucky. He still hadn't managed to break away from his reverie of that terrible day, his memory continuing further than Hermione's ever could.

_Ron only managed to catch up to the scene that was playing out as Hermione was flung back towards the tombstone, the sight causing his breath to catch in his throat. It was then that he heard Voldemort give a low cackle, and then fire off the killing curse. Ron stood, momentarily frozen, as he stared at the now lifeless form of Harry. He would never be able to shake that image from his head._

_Harry's face was to be forever frozen in a look of pain from the Cruciatus Curse that he had been under, though his eyes still held that determined gleam. His mouth was partially opened, his hand outstretched towards a still cackling Voldemort in a vain attempt to stop the on-coming curse. There was a single tear that managed to trail its way down his cheek, lost forever to the dark soil._

_Ron was ripped from his trance at the sound of Voldemort's voice. "The mudblood will be the last to die. I will give you the luxury of dying before her. Until we meet again, Ronald B. Weasley." Ron's name slid off Voldemort's tongue in a hiss, all of the implications of it sending shivers down Ron's spine. Before he could even think of a valiant attempt at a retort, the beast had apparated away, and Ron was completely alone. _


	3. Repressed Memory

A/N: These characters aren't mine. Only the dreary plot. Me gusta reviews, by the way. So review, por favor!

Chapter Three: Repressed Memory

Ron shuddered with more subdued sobs that night, his face in his knees and his hand clasped over his mouth so he wouldn't wake Hermione. He had tried to shake the memory of that night the entire day, only to have it creep up on him when he least expected it. He was becoming more and more used to experiencing the memory, only to have it progress farther than it had ever gone; and it was terrible. Repressed parts of the memory began to creep up on him as he stood guard over Hermione.

"_Hermione!" Ron yelled, running over to the fallen form of his friend. Blood was matted in her hair, smeared across her alarmingly pale cheeks. Ron cradled her against his chest, carefully checking the back of her head, only to find a gushing wound._

_Ron told himself not to panic, remembering what his mother used to say. 'Head wounds bleed a lot worse than others, so it seems worse than it really is,' he could hear her voice resounding in his already pounding head. But he still managed to panic at her shallow breaths and all of the blood that was staining his shirt, lifting his head to scream for other Order members. When no one came, he lifted her into his arms. Even though Ron had side-along apparated before with his parents, he had never been the one actually apparating, so his nerves increased considerably. He took a deep breath, and tried to remember the three D's. Determination, Distance, Defamation? No, that wasn't it. Dungbomb?_

_Ron managed to heave a small chuckle from his chest at the tiny amount of humor that managed to surface in such a terrible situation. Taking another deep breath, he attempted to apparate to St. Mungo's with Hermione._

_Ron surprised himself when he managed to apparate right into the main lobby of St. Mungo's. What surprised him even more was that absolutely nobody paid any attention to the fact that he was holding an unconscious bleeding woman. He yelled for a doctor, only to have the receptionist point towards the sign that described all the floors. He snarled at her, which only elicited a huff and another point towards the sign. _

_Ron hurtled to the correct floor, almost slipping on one of the steps and taking both himself and Hermione down. After he righted himself, he yelled once again for a doctor, pleased with the response that he finally got. Hermione was rushed off with a doctor and Ron was left to slump down in a chair. _

_After what seemed like an eternity, the Weasley clan came barging into the hall, a frantic Mrs. Weasley leading the pack. "Ronald! Oh, Ronald, we couldn't find you! And then we came here because of Charlie—"_

_Ron stopped his mother's rant to inquire about his brother, only to find that he had been hit with the curse that Hermione had back when they went into the Department of Mysteries. _

_Hermione. The thought stopped his heart, and he frantically looked about for a doctor. He grabbed the first thing in a white robe he saw, which sadly, was a new nurse. After interrogating the terrified nurse and getting no answers, he stormed about, his mother in tow; the rest of the family was left to fall into chairs and finally rest. _

_Another nurse finally stopped the rampaging Ron, telling him that Hermione was stable, and that she was allowed one visitor. Ron went to her room without consulting with his mother, leaving the woman to huff about outside the door. _

_Ron nervously approached Hermione, who still looked pale. Ron was just happy she wasn't gushing blood anymore, and took a seat next to her bed. He let his fingers graze gently over the stiff bandage wrapped around her head, before dropping his hand to grab hers. He held up their interlocked hands, inspecting the way they seemed to fit together almost perfectly. The movement caused Hermione's eyes to flutter open, dazedly staring about the room for a few moments before settling on the fiery-haired boy holding her hand. She gave a light smile to him, which he returned, until a look of sheer panic fell over her face. _

"_Where's Harry! Is he alright, Ron!" Hermione practically shouted, trying to sit up too quickly, only to be brought back down into her laying position from the sheer pain that pulsed in her skull. She settled on looking apprehensively at her friend, who so far was stony faced and unreadable._

_Tears started to fall silently down Ron's face without warning as he shook his head and whispered, "No, Hermione. Harry's not alright. He's d—" That was all he managed to get out, before he broke down completely, bawling and holding their still-interlocked hands against his forehead as he trembled. _

_It took a few moments for the true gravity of the situation to hit Hermione, but when it did, she gently pulled Ron up so he would sit on the bed next to her. When he complied without complaint, she pulled him down next to her, and held him as he sobbed, tears pooling in her own eyes, though she refused to let them fall. Hermione hesitated when Ron started to calm himself down, but asked the questions that were in her mind the entire time Ron was crying._

"_Ron… Did you… Did you see him? Was he scared? What ha-happened to him, Ron?"_

"_I don't want to ever talk about it. I'm going to have to live with that image for the rest of my life, but you don't have to. You won't be burdened with it, I won't let you," Ron managed to sniffle. He rose from the bed, facing away from Hermione as if he was ashamed that she had seen him crying. He gave the hand that he still held a squeeze, before whispering, "Get some rest, Hermione."_

_Ron shuffled from the room, allowing his mother to go in and sit with Hermione. He knew he should probably go and check on his family, and go to see Charlie, but he couldn't leave Hermione unattended, unguarded, unprotected. Not with Voldemort still on the loose, and looking for blood. He leaned against the wall, realizing too late that his knees were too weak to hold him up any longer. Ron slid down the wall, crumpling into a ball just outside Hermione's room, the blackness that was threatening to overtake him finally clouding his vision._


	4. Ginny's Goodbye

A/N: I don't own Harry Potter. Do you? Not unless your name is J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Four: Ginny's Goodbye

Hermione awoke early in the morning to find that Ron had fallen into one of his few cat-naps, and she took the opportunity to slip from the room unnoticed. After she had washed up, she padded down to the kitchen, not expecting to see anyone up for another few hours. She did find someone, however, clutching a tea mug and hunched over in the now all too familiar pose of sobbing.

Without a word, Hermione slipped down into the chair next to Ginny, putting a hand on the young woman's shoulder. Ginny's grip tightened momentarily on the mug, before she turned and gave Hermione a surprisingly fierce embrace, crying openly now. The memories that had flooded back to Ginny were too great to handle alone, and she was glad to have a friend there to cry with.

"_Where's Ron, mum? Mum? Mum, are you alright?" Ginny asked, her voice raising an octave in panic. Her mother clutched the arm of the nearest chair, and was quickly supported by her husband and eldest son, Bill. _

_Her pale face contrasted horribly with her flaming red hair, and she looked as if she was in a state of complete and utter shock. "I… But it can't be… He was there, I saw him… He was confident… It was a sure thing… He was only a boy," Molly Weasley murmured, before staring around at her family, as if only noticing for the first time that they were there. When her eyes stopped on Ginny, they began to fill with tears, and she quickly looked down at her feet._

"_Ginny… Ginny, I have to tell you something. Back at the battle, Harry… Well… Harry, he –," the confession was cut off by steadily increasing yelling, before a very disheveled and wild-eyed Remus Lupin came bursting through the door, pointing his wand at any doctor or nurse who happened to be in his way. _

"_I need a doctor! Somebody must know how to heal him! He's the bloody Boy Who Lived, there must be something someone can do! He already survived it onc—," he yelled to no one in general, looking absolutely mad. _

"_Remus! Remus, you have to stop," whimpered Tonks, catching up quickly to the crazed man. She grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him down so they were forehead to forehead. "Remus," she choked, a sob catching in her throat before she continued on. "He's gone, Remus. Nobody can bring him back. Nobody," she whispered this last word with the most conviction she could muster._

_Remus finally understood that Harry Potter would never be coming back, and finally collapsed in a heap on the floor, overtaken by grief. His cries silenced the entire floor of the wizarding hospital, everyone slowly realizing what must have transpired at the battle._

_Ginny, however, refused to believe. She turned to stare at her family, before whispering, "I'm leaving. I'm going to go and find him. He's not dead. He can't be dead."_

"_Ginny," a hoarse voice whispered from behind her. As she whirled around, she saw Ron standing in the middle of the hall, slowly approaching her. "Ginny, it's tru—," he began, but was cut off by a now-screaming Ginny._

_Ginny advanced on her brother, screaming what came to mind first. "You! How could you let this happen! He was your best friend, and you just let him die! You're pathetic! I hate you! I hate you!" she cried, pounding her fists against Ron's chest. Ron stood there and took the beating, his body swaying slightly with every hard hit his sister landed on his chest, tears welling up in his shining blue eyes._

_Ron turned and walked away from his sister's continual cries of hatred, shuffling into Hermione's room. _

_Ginny, however, grabbed her brother Bill's arm and snarled at him. "You apparate us back to that battleground and to Harry. I need to see him." The eldest Weasley child looked around for help from his family, only to meet averted gazes and shaking heads and tears. He slowly stood from his seat, getting a firmer hold on Ginny's arm before apparating back to the battle ground. _

_The smoke still lingered over battle ground, the haze distorting the figures of the Ministry Aurors that were picking through the remains. Ginny walked towards a large group of Aurors, pushing through them until she reached the middle of the silent circle. She would never forget the sight that met her eyes; Harry's body being slowly lifted onto a stretcher, his hand reaching towards the sky towards something he would never be able to truly grasp. With a sob, Ginny collapsed into her shocked brother's arms as Harry's body was apparated away._


End file.
